Tuesday, November 6, 2012

October 29, 2012

It was good to hear about your week.
Only 2 of the tv shows caught my attention and you know what 2 they
were lol. But that is good to hear that Nate is back. Has he told any
crazy stories yet?

The other night one of the Elders and I were talking about
Gabriel Iglesias and laughing at all the jokes. Typical, it was the
Mexican and the Ecuadorian that were laughing! Man that was a good ten
minutes. I didnt even hear Gabriel Iglesias and I was still tearing up
from laughing so hard! I'm not going to lie though, I am jealous that
you got to go see him live. Just throwing it out there.

We had stake conference on Sunday too. It was really
good. We found out that my Bishop here got released and is now the 2nd
councelor in the stake presidency. We also had Elder Whiting of the 70
and Elder Rhein come and speak. Everybody gave amazing talks. It was
really nice to see a whole stake of spanish speakers. I hope the Spanish
elders are pushing themselves in Iowa so there can at least be a
Spanish branch.

Honestly, this past week was really hard. I was getting
really mad because the investigators we have didn't want to be taught
and we couldn't find anybody to teach. We pushed ourselves really hard
and it felt like we weren't getting anywhere. I was getting down on
myself thinking how the heck am I going to teach anybody here. Even
though we have a big area, there aren't a lot of Spanish speakers. Plus
the neighborhoods are mainly white, so even if we get in to teach them,
we won't get to keep on teaching them. It was hard for all of us though.
The 3 of us had a hard time. I got upset 1 day, then Elder Hudson got
upset another, and then Elder Fullmer got upset a different day. Then we
realized that we just need to suck it up! lol We were called to be here
for a reason so that means that there is somebody we have to find.
Maybe we found them or maybe we didn't, but all I know is that we worked
hard this week. We knocked, talked to people on the street, offered
service. We tried member referals but nobody was giving any. Plus nobody
talks to their neighbors here. It is really wierd. We will talk to
somebody at their door, they aren't interested so we ask if they know
anybody around where they live that would and they say that they don't
know their neighbors. It is insane. Yesterday we took this kid out who
is our age. Freddie Ossorio is one of the coolest members out here. This
Sunday was the 1st Sunday he had been to church in 2 months. I'm not
sure if he is a strong member or not, but we talk to him on a weekly
basis. His family feeds us every Monday. But we are working to get him
excited and wanting to serve a mission. He has a brother on a mission
and a sister who is about to come home from hers. We also went by this
family that was considered in-active but aren't really. They were
honestly busy for 2 or 3 weeks because each one of them got called into
work. Idk what they do but they were there for stake conference. Their
little son was hilarious. He is about 10 and he is the only boy in the
family, so he liked having the missionaries over. My companions and I
also got this member mad. She wasn't at church last Sunday because she
was really sick and we didn't call her. But here is the thing, she lives
in the other Elders area. We know her so she will be over it and is
just kind of joking around. We should have called her, but it also
should have been the other Elders to go over. Other than that nothing
much happened. We are just working hard to get new people to teach. We
found some people that are potential investigators, but we just have to
wait and see. Hopefully those people will be around this week and are
willing to accept the Gospel. I have seen how it has really blessed
peoples lives out here and I want that for every person I meet. I have
met an alcholic who gave it all up and a family who was completly lost
in life do a complete 180. It is honestly an amazing experience to see
people change for the better because of the Gospel. Even though this
past week was hard, I love doing this.

I love you mom!

Elder Ruelas

P.S.
No im not buying a new coat. I might have to though if I ever get
transfered to the Desert. It is really cold up there. Maybe you could
send me my black nike jacket if I get transfered there. Otherwise
everything is good here.